jogr4909 wrote:steve ott for third line. konopka for fourth. Grit and faceoff prowess. get parise's rights today using extra picks and sign the man. 1 more NHL ready D man, draft a goalie to groom and let's go pens !

Unless TK or Cooke are moved I don't see how ott fits even though I would love to have him on the pens too. I would like anyone of Ott, Tootoo even Jansson to fill the 13th forward/enforcer role. There are tons of options, we just have to see how things play out today.

TK and sutter on a third line will not work well. Neither of them at a big banger that wins the corner battles that are needed. TK is horrendous on the forecheck and he has lost some of his footspeed from a couple years ago. He isn't quite good enough offensively to play the top 6 in Pitt, doesn't fit in with our current third line and make too much to be on the 4th. TK needs to go to a young team who needs a 2nd line winger that has a good center. I wouldn't be opposed to moving cooke as well this summer and completly rebuilding our third line. We got Sutter already who wins the faceoffs and does a lot of the little things right and plays the center role very good. Now we need two bangers to dump pucks in chase them down and destroy the other teams D in the corners without taking stupid penalties. They also need to be good on the PK as well.

Nothing against TK, but he just doesn't have a good fit on this team, kinda like talbot 2 years ago.

Now get our 4th line to a point where they can cycle down low and eat some clock and not be a liability out there and we should be good to go. Asham should be there on the wing, he is a perfect fit. Vitale has proven to me he is capable centering the 4th line, he just needs to win the key faceoffs, not sure what his % was last year but it seemed to me he lost the key draws. So that leaves a 4th line wing open. Adams was great a couple years ago but Vitale has replaced him and he doesn't deserve to be sitting in the box, again a young team looking for leadership should be all over CFA for a 7th.

ffemtreed wrote:TK and sutter on a third line will not work well. Neither of them at a big banger that wins the corner battles that are needed. TK is horrendous on the forecheck and he has lost some of his footspeed from a couple years ago. He isn't quite good enough offensively to play the top 6 in Pitt, doesn't fit in with our current third line and make too much to be on the 4th. TK needs to go to a young team who needs a 2nd line winger that has a good center. I wouldn't be opposed to moving cooke as well this summer and completly rebuilding our third line. We got Sutter already who wins the faceoffs and does a lot of the little things right and plays the center role very good. Now we need two bangers to dump pucks in chase them down and destroy the other teams D in the corners without taking stupid penalties. They also need to be good on the PK as well.

Nothing against TK, but he just doesn't have a good fit on this team, kinda like talbot 2 years ago.

Now get our 4th line to a point where they can cycle down low and eat some clock and not be a liability out there and we should be good to go. Asham should be there on the wing, he is a perfect fit. Vitale has proven to me he is capable centering the 4th line, he just needs to win the key faceoffs, not sure what his % was last year but it seemed to me he lost the key draws. So that leaves a 4th line wing open. Adams was great a couple years ago but Vitale has replaced him and he doesn't deserve to be sitting in the box, again a young team looking for leadership should be all over CFA for a 7th.

I am suggesting Ryan(1st line), Sutter( D pairing), Tootoo (4th line) and I am trying to think of someone good to fill that 3rd line spot.

to get bobby ryan, you are going to have to give up some real assets.Also, no need to get rid of Cooke. He played well last year, and contributed offensively as well. I think this year he will bring back some of the physical play a little bit also. He started to do that towards the end of the year.

Tootoo will drive fans crazy with the bone-headed penalties. We really can not have any more players that are prone to taking a penalty at the worst time. With Orpik and Kunitz now joining that party, we would constantly be on the PK.

lemieuxReturns wrote:to get bobby ryan, you are going to have to give up some real assets.Also, no need to get rid of Cooke. He played well last year, and contributed offensively as well. I think this year he will bring back some of the physical play a little bit also. He started to do that towards the end of the year.

Tootoo will drive fans crazy with the bone-headed penalties. We really can not have any more players that are prone to taking a penalty at the worst time. With Orpik and Kunitz now joining that party, we would constantly be on the PK.

I agree for the most part, I am not sure what Anaheim would want for Ryan as i am not sure there motivation for moving him other than he wants out. Would they be happy with one of our bluechip d prospects, do they want a proven D in Martin or Orpik? Are they stock piling draft picks for the next year or two? Obviously if we can't land Ryan then maybe we can pick up Parise as the consolation prize!

I can either keep or leave cooke, it really doesn't matter to me. We can include him in a trade or let him give it another whirl on the 3rd line next year. Last year he wasn't really effective but not really detrimental either. But if say, the ducks are interested in him as part of the Ryan trade, so be it.

As for Tootoo, he does take bad penalties but usually not at the wrong times, he a good grinder who loves winning those corner battles and cycles the puck down low with the best of them, which is why I want him over someone like Konopka who is a one trick pony who also takes bad penalties.

Hmm.... how about Martin to NJ for the rights to Parise and maybe that 4th line player we need.

Now we're thinking penny! Not bad defensively, energy guy that just loves to play, maybe the best pound for pound fighter in the league if he needs to throw down, physical. He'd be a good fit for us certainly, the line of suitors for him would be long if the Rangers should choose not to retain him.